Discourse, Slack..etc.

[NCMedic]

I need a platform for small group communication (5-10) to start, primarily with a group of internal individuals, not controlled by or affiliated with my organization.
Has to have the following features:
Secure, sign in / invite only. Not publicly searchable.
Ease of use across multiple platforms, mainly phones or tablets.
Ability to facilitate discussion of various topics
Sharing of files
Ability to share images, videos and links from multiple platforms.
Users have ability to control notifications, if I’m posting something at 0200, I don’t want to wake up the entire group.

What I am looking for is a way to share ephemeral discussion about a certain topic or concept. For example: “Here is a interesting article, podcast, etc. about XYZ, whats your thoughts, these are my thoughts,etc”

A group chat, text thread is just unwieldy and nobody wants to be stuck in a group chat. E-mail seems too slow and one directional. I want bi-directional communication and sharing to foster thinking and growth.

I think that #Slack is the answer / solution. I think Discourse could be a viable platform if I wanted to move from a private group to a public with more people, which could be a possibility in the future. Discourse looses me on the whole hosting server thing.

Anything else I should be looking at or considering? I don’t mind paying a few dollars a month for a platform but not really down to pay $100/mo for something 5-10 people may or may not use.

 

[TriggerMan]

Try an app called Discord. It's primarily a voice communication program used by gamers but allows you to set up text based discussion channels any way you see fit. You can also share your screen/video, post pictures and files, or even link to external sites. You provide people you want involved an access code. No others can find you or join without your invite. There are so many options, you can make your server anything you want it to be. You can also access it from a phone or PC.


www.Discord.com

 

[MacEntyre]

I've used Slack in a group of about 30-40 people. It's ok, but I don't really prefer it.

Thar's a bunch of us on Levergun Scoundrels that migrated from Marlin Owners, and in both places we have done very well with a private group message thread. Doesn't meet your criteria, as it is controlled by the forum owner, but it sounds like Diiscord is just the ticket.

 

[Pinky787]

Yeh I would say look at discord as well. I have a private discord channel that literally has me and 3 other people on it. And I am also part of larger groups on discord 1 being about 40 people and there is one with 1500+ people. Works on computers through the website as well as phone and tablets. It's free to download. I can turn off notifications to certain channels that have alot of things going on. I do know there are some limitations to the size of the files you can upload without boosting the server. You can assign people certain tags etc so if you want a private channel only you can see you can do it. Or if you wanted x and y to be able to view the info but not z you can do it.

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[B00ger]

I’ll also attest to discord. Simple to use, voice and chat features.


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